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Monday, October 7, 2013

TOP 5 SEPTEMBER THRIFT

Thanks to the ‘Opshoppers movement’ taking Canberra by storm, I’ve had the thrifting fire put back into me in September. And once you have it it’s massively addictive. You never know what you’ll find and you get this irrational anxiety that if you don’t get to an opshop asap the best stuff will be gone. Here are my top 5 thrifted items from September! What about you?

1. Someone’s DIY shorts from Fyshwick Salvo’s Warehouse $5

Someone did an insanely awesome job DIY dying these, or, by the looks of them appearing at the Salvos, thought they had failed miserably. Which ever the case, to me these shorts are that perfect level of grunged up that money can’t buy, so I’m glad they found a good home with me.

2. Zara Basic Loafer Wedges from Belconnen Vinnies $7.50

Now a nice lady and I reached for these babies at the same time, and for a second our eyes met, and it was ON. I got the feeling she’d been indecisive until she saw me go for the shoes, so I didn’t feel impolite grabbing them first. After a moments pause, she put on a smile and said ‘nice shoes, aren’t they? Great find!’ and walked away. Thrifting etiquette one-o-one: don’t be a sore loser!

3. Weird fridge shaped novelty tin from Gungahlin Salvo’s $2.50

And now to some (largely) non-fashion buys. This strange novelty tin caught my eye on my opshopping trip with Finoa from Opshoppers a couple of weeks ago. This enigmatic artifact is so unlikely on so many levels. 1) It’s pastel pink 2) It’s a pastel pink miniature fridge, like, what? 3) It says ‘Candilicious’, which has nothing to do with fridges 4) It once contained candy (which to an extent explains the ‘Candilicious’). I guess I would have been happy to buy this just to keep my trinkets in, but Fiona insisted that it was a clutch. On that suggestion, I decided to ‘make’ this into a bag. But more on that later.

4. Gaudy Strawberry Shortcake Cookie Jar from Fyshwick Salvos $3

I might be the only person in the world who would want to actually pay money for this, but I just can’t resist things that look like cake… I was inexplicably happy with this buy!

At first I couldn’t figure out what these were (musical instruments? miniature sake cuppies?), but the kind Salvo’s lady suggested that they were incense stands. Looking at the Japanese on the lid it clicked that these are actually a souvenir from Nikkou Toushou-gu, a famous Shinto shrine in Tochigi. It’s amazing sometimes how things end up in your possession.